Artificial Neural Network Approach of the Effect of Decision Making Practices on SMEs Performance: A Lower Income Economy Perspective

The process of decision making process signifies direction, success or failure of the business performance among small and medium enterprises. In this aspect, research is scant when considering the business in lower income economies. This article empirically investigates adopting decision making practices among managers and owners in manufacturing SMEs in Yemen as a lower income economy. Further, the article discusses the effect of the decision making practices on SMEs performance. Finally, the article aims to identify the important contributing practices towards SMEs performance. With the help of primary data collected conveniently from 400 managers and owners of SMEs, the study uses PLS-SEM to assess the research model and test the stated hypotheses, then study employs artificial neural networks to conduct importance analysis to identify the most contributing practices towards performance. The findings indicated significant effect of decision making practices on SMEs performance while the most contributing factors are identifying the problem, choosing best alternative and implementing the decision. Research results discussion and implication are presented as well.